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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

MODERN THOUGHTS OF A LAYMAN, by                    
First Line: In these days of new thought and interpretation
Last Line: For the goats, then will open the great jaws of hell.
Subject(s): Clergy; Religious Education; Sermons; Teaching & Teachers; Thought; Priests; Rabbis; Ministers; Bishops; Sunday Schools; Yeshivas; Parochial Schools; Educators; Professors; Thinking


In these days of New Thought and Interpretation
Each man seems to think that his right is divine
To accept or reject, and to mutilate Scripture,
Each man for himself with the Devil behind.
As each swimmer lets go of the old Rock of Ages
He seems to evolve a new stroke all his own,
With an ardent desire to teach it to others
And lure them away on an ocean unknown.

The angels must look with bewildered amazement
To see the old Devil hot-footing around,
In school and in church with professors and clergy,
Most willing the helpers and fertile the ground.
He leads them to believe that their brains are colossal
And truth long concealed their particular find;
That the Bible is filled with error and fable,
And Christ is made over to suit their own mind.

They create a new Heaven to meet with their fancy,
No home left for Satan when they finish with Hell—
Most skilled in the art of blowing soap bubbles
Which, filled with hot air, float exceedingly well.
With clerical dress and most pious demeanor
They pray and they preach to the crowds that surround;
They lure and they charm with the noise of their rattles,
Using beautiful words with a heavenly sound.

There is one fact, however, we all should remember,
And that is, the Shepherd doth know His own Sheep.
No Goat can dissemble and thereby deceive Him
For the Master doth know by the sound of his bleat.
And though wolves in sheep's clothing are ever infesting
The flocks of the Shepherd in field and in fold;
Still His all-seeing Eye forever is watching,
And guarding His own from Hell's minions untold.

With the sowing of tares in the fields of the Master
Dissensions arise where peace should abide.
With diversified thought and interpretation
The foundations of Faith are oft swept aside.
Jehovah, the Lord, and the God of the Ages,
Secure on His Throne in Heaven doth dwell;
God of Justice and Mercy, and also of Vengeance,
In His hands are the keys of both Heaven and Hell.

When at last shall arrive the Great Day of Judgment,
With Jesus the Judge upon the White Throne,
With the nations assembled in silence before Him,
Each soul must account for his record alone.
Most awful the moment when Judgment is spoken,
The words are the same, Holy Scripture doth tell;
For the Sheep, then will open the portals of Heaven,
For the Goats, then will open the great jaws of Hell.





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